Category Archives: Romans

When I first visted this in 2010 the information sign was in a sorry state and hardly legiable.
Its since been replaced with a new one which has an old photograph of the 1911 dig on the cliff edge.
And also this plan of the site.

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Straying a little from Teesside today perhaps, but everyone needs a holiday.
These five roman pilar bases were revealed by a landslip on Filey Brigg in October 1857
They now stand in a flower bed in Filey in the same relative positions as they were found

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A Roman settlement was discovered a few years ago during the development of The Forum area of Ingleby Barwick. A Roman Villa is still unexcavated and being preserved under the village green. The rest of the site was excavated just before building houses.

Many thanks to Nat Snell for bringing this one to my attention, below is a slideshow of his pictures of the excavations.

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Piercebridge was the location that the Roman Dere Street crossed the Tees, the course of the river has changed so much since Roman times that the remains are now in a field about 100m south of the river.
The remains were found during quarrying in 1972–3, the bridge itself was wood but the stone abutments and piers are to be seen today, the pavement of blocks exists to stop the piers being undermined.

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The Dorman Museum opened in 1904, it was given to the town by Sir Arthur Dorman as a memorial to his son who has been killed in the South African War. The building also has a green plaque dedicated to Frank Elgee the curator between 1923 and 1932. The museum itself if full of interesting exhibits and well worth a visit, but I shall only comment on items outside the building.

A roman coffin in the grounds is actually from Irchester in Northamptonshire but was found on the property of the Cargo Fleet Iron Company (presumably at the iron ore quarries)

The large stone which seems to have lost its plaque at some point, is said to be a stepping stone from a crossing of the Tees at Newport.

Other items include an 1884 foundation stone laid by Lady Pease and Middlesbroughs coat of arms.

“Erimus” is Latin for “We shall be”, it is a development of the motto of the Brus family “Fuimus” meaning “We have been”.

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An archaeological dig around 1911 / 1912 investigated the remains of a Roman signal station probably constructed in AD 367 and used until AD 390. A chain of these existed along the North Yorkshire coast to warn of coastal attack.

A well was uncovered with the remains of 13 bodies inside, some artifacts from the dig are currently in the Whitby museum.

All traces of the site have now disappeared over the cliff due to erosion, and it doesn’t look like the information board will last much longer either.

The open day on 7th September 2008 was technically cancelled due to weather conditions, but Stephen was kind enough to show those who still came around the remains of a Roman building that has just been uncovered.

UPDATE : The excavations lead to the discovery of the grave of a Saxon Princess, gold artifacts from which can now be seen at Kirkleatham museum